silent bright multicolored object moved at high speed stopping abruptly to change direction. shot straight up into upper atmosphere

The four of us were maybe an eighth of a mile south of the Platte river just to the north of the garbage landfill in Phillips Nebraska. It was a cold, clear, crisp night with very little cloud cover. The only clouds I remember were high altitude wispy clouds sparsely scattered. There was light enough from the moon to be able to walk in the field without worry of stumbling or getting hurt tripping over things. It was late November I remember but cant be sure exactly of the date.

We were far enough away from town so we didn't have any light pollution. The sky was amazing that night for skywatching. To the northwest we could see the grand island airport tower light rotating from blue to white as it spun. From our position I observed a craft that had red and white running lights. It hovered like a helicopter and must have been between 10 to 20 miles to our north and perhaps at a 45 degree angle from us. It hovered and moved similar to a helicopter for a minute or so. It stopped moving and started to change colors. It turned from blinking red and white to solid blue then purple to red then blue. It was very bright like strobes. I knew by the way the colors shifted that it wasn't a helicopter or other aircraft that could be in our area. It was too far away to make out a shape.

It turned solid bright white and started to make perfect horizontal patterns across the sky at extremely high speeds. It traveled almost three quarters of the horizon in less than a second and did this at least eight times . When it stopped to travel the opposite direction it did so abruptly without delay . When it finished its horizontal travel it hovered in the general area of its position . It changed colors like it had previously for around 30 seconds . It then started to travel vertically in the same fashion it had during its horizontal movement. Extremely fast and stopping abruptly. The g forces had to be extreme. It moved in perfectly straight lines. After about 8 movements up and down it hovered in its original position for maybe 10 seconds and shot straight up into the sky and disappeared.

I have been to many airshows and have always been an aircraft buff. I have never seen anything like that object before that night or since. My friend who was there is a mechanic for Cessna experimental. We discussed this sighting and have come to a conclusion that it was something that couldn't have been manned considering the speed and g force involved. It also made no sound from the time we first saw it to the time it shot into the upper atmosphere out of sight. No sonic booms, no engine sound.

((NUFORC Note: Witness indicates that the date of the incident is approximate. PD))